Feb. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Ford Motor Co. was sued by more than
1,400 former U.K. workers for making misleading statements about
the security of transferring their pensions to Visteon Corp.
during the 2000 spinoff of the auto-parts company.

A U.K. judge ruled the claims, all filed at a London court
between January 2011 and March 2012, should be tried together as
group litigation, according to an order handed down in December
and made public yesterday.

Visteon, spun off from Ford in 2000, filed bankruptcy in
2009 as the auto-parts industry faced slowing vehicle sales and
reduced production. The company, based in Van Buren Township,
Michigan, ran a 350 million-pound ($553 million) deficit in 2009
on the pension plan that had been transferred from Ford, lawyers
for one group of ex-employees said in documents filed at a
London court in March.

Anyone “who transferred their accrued entitlements in the
Ford Pension Scheme to the underfunded Visteon Scheme was
exposing themselves to the risk that they may lose their accrued
benefits,” the former employees said in the filing.

Around 30 members of Britain’s Parliament wrote to the
House of Commons Work and Pensions Committee chairwoman on Jan.
30 requesting a report into “multinational companies’ duty of
care” in relation to pensions, according to the letter seen by
Bloomberg, which would require witnesses from Ford and Visteon
to attend a public hearing.

Independent Company

“Ford views these claims as totally without merit and it
will defend its position vigorously,” Brian Bennett, a U.K.
spokesman for Ford, said in an e-mailed statement. “While Ford
recognizes the severity of the situation for former Visteon U.K.
employees, Visteon became an independent company in 2000 and was
responsible for its own business decisions.”

Ford rose by 0.8 percent to $13.05 in New York trading at
12:54 p.m. today.

Jonna Christensen, a U.K. spokeswoman for Visteon, declined
to comment on the suit. Visteon shares rose by 0.7 percent to
$56.68 in New York trading at 12.56 p.m. today.

Unite, Britain’s largest union with some 1.5 million
members according to its website, didn’t immediately respond to
requests for comment. Unite is now coordinating the litigation
for the ex-employees.

If the workers believed their pensions “weren’t safe,
there is no way we would’ve accepted” the transfer, said Simon
Harding, one of the claimants, in a telephone interview today.
“If we hadn’t have accepted the transfer, then I don’t think
the spinoff would’ve taken place.”